North v South: Who comes out on top in England’s boxing divide?

Fury v Chisora, Froch v DeGale and Price v Joshua just three of the fights we preview

Here at Ladbrokes News we’ve come up with a promotion that even the likes of Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren would be proud of as we present to you our very own huge night of North v South championship boxing!

While we are looking forward to watching Manchester’s Tyson Fury clash with London’s Dereck Chisora in their much anticipated rematch on Saturday night, there are plenty of other all-England North v South clashes that could be in the pipeline in the coming year.

We preview the main event at the ExCel Arena and also look into four other mythical contests as we decide whether the North of England or the South of England has the edge when it comes to the fight game!

According to Chisora, he was in a bad place the last time these two met back at Wembley Arena back in 2011. The London fighter was on the wrong end of a unanimous decision that night and while Del Boy is a fitter and stronger fighter this time around, Fury, who is the 4/11 favourite, was the classier operator last time around. He has also improved his conditioning since the first fight and his class should shine through once again to give the North the edge in this encounter.

There’s been plenty of speculation surrounding whether these two will ever get it on and with Froch chasing a dream Las Vegas showdown against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, it looks very unlikely. But if the clash ever comes to fruition you’ll have a head start as we are now going to look into the future and tell you the outcome! Southpaw DeGale would prove a tricky customer for the Cobra to contain and the Londoner’s slick boxing skills could provide him with some success against the Nottingham warrior. But we all saw how Froch dealt with the trouble George Groves gave him in two contests by stopping his youthful challenger twice – the second in devastating fashion. The North go 2-0 up!

A contest between Liverpool’s Price and London’s Joshua has been touted in recent weeks and it could be something we see in the summer 2015 – what a prospect that would be! AJ, who is 6/4 to become a world champion before 2017, has so far blown everyone he has faced away on his to a record of 10 win and 10 Kos but Price would represent a huge test of his credentials. The Scouser may have suffered two shock defeats to American Tony Thompson but he still possess devastating punching power and everybody is keen to see how Joshua takes a punch. But that does not worry us and it’s Joshua who comes out on top to pull one back for the South.

The lightweight division is one of the most exciting in the country and any number of fighters could have been involved in our mythical North v South contest. But we have plumped for a Mancunian and a Londoner with world titles at the forefront of their minds. Crolla will get his chance first when he take on Richar Abril for the WBO title in January, while Mitchell can move one step closer to a shot at the WBC version of the title with victory over Daniel Estrada at the O2 Arena on January 31. If both can claim a world belt then a possible clash at the end of next year would not be a surprise and if it happened we are backing a rejuvenated Mitchell to win a close fight to level up the scores.

On a huge night of North v South boxing it all comes down to this! In the red corner we have Liverpool fan Callum Smith facing off against the blue corner of Chelsea supporter George Groves. With Groves mandatory challenger for the WBC super-middleweight championship of the world a clash with Smith is not far away with the Scouse fighter also on the path towards the green and gold strap. It’s a fight Smith’s promorter Eddie Hearn and trainer Joe Gallagher are desperate to make next year and while Groves is a classy operator, the Liverpool man has all the attributes to stop Groves in his tracks and go on to conquer the world. The North take a split decision.

Do you agree with the outcome of our mythical North v South contests? Have your say now with Ladbrokes News…

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